Turbomachines such as wind turbines, gas turbines, steam turbines, pumps, fans, generators, motors, and other forms of commercial equipment frequently include shafts, blades, and other rotating components. It is known in the art to install one or more sensors on the rotating components to measure various characteristics of those components in order to control, monitor, and/or enhance the operation of the rotating components. For example, sensors that measure temperature, velocity, stress, strain, vibrations, and/or other characteristics of the rotating components may allow for early detection of abnormalities, adjustments to repair or maintenance schedules, and/or other actions to enhance operations.
Various slip ring and telemetry systems exist in the art for transmitting the analogue sensor data from the rotating components to stator components for further analysis. Conventionally, analogue signals from the sensors are routed via wires to individual slip or contact rings positioned axially along a rotatable center bore or shaft portion of the slip ring assembly. Stationary contact arms or brushes then provide a signal path for routing the signals from the rotating contact or slip rings to a controller, data processor or the like.
In order to accommodate ever increasing data requirements for test and operation of the turbomachine, it is necessary to digitize and compress at least some of the analogue signals from the sensors prior to passing the signals on to the slip or contact rings. This requires various electronic components such as circuit boards to be mounted at one end of rotor shaft of the turbomachine. As the rotor shaft turns, the electronic components are exposed to g-loads that may affect the integrity of the electronic connections between the sensors, the electronic components and the slip or contact rings. In addition, the various electronic components generate a considerable amount of heat, thus potentially leading to thermal fatigue. Therefore, a system for packaging various electronic components such as slip ring electronics in a rotatable shaft that mitigates g-load effects on the various electronic components would be useful.